GetAgent setWindowFDC3 parameter

[robmoffat]

We've been discussing whether the getAgent options should have a parameter for backwards compatibility which will set window.fdc3 and fire the fdc3Ready event. For pre-existing applications upgrading to FDC3 For the web and making heavy use of those features, this will save a lot of effort when upgrading to getAgent.

Question for discussion:

Should this parameter be set to true or false by default? i.e.

• TRUE would set window.fdc3 and fire fdc3Ready
• FALSE would not, and you would need to call getAgent wherever you need an instance of the DesktopAgent.

Some comments from email discussion:

@robmoffat said:

7/8. fdc3Ready/window.fdc3 - really this is coming down to what we set for the default then?

@kriswest said:

I reckon so. I've come to the conclusion that defaulting true will be make retrofit simpler and we like simple. I actually only think we need one option (if setting the global fire the event - they've always gone together in the past, so why separate em now - if you don't need the event, don't listen for it - its not going to hurt anything).

Derek Novavi then suggested that improving backwards compatibility would make FDC3 For The Web easier to accept when it comes to voting.

Thoughts?

[Roaders]

so does this mean that we are relaxing or removing the requirement to have window.fdc3 always set?

[kriswest]

@Roaders that is the plan, yes. By making setting it the default we can easily support existing.apps (that add only a getAgent call), and allow others to turn it off if they need to (they could also just ignore it).

[Roaders]

Great, that sounds good. I agree that defaulting to true makes the mast sense.

[kriswest]

I'll restart my opinion as confirmation. I think we should:

• Set window.fdc3 by default (and handle the fact that it might already be set or frozen by a container as they will continue to do this)
• Fire the fdc3Ready event when its set (unless it was already fired by the container!)
• Provide a setWindowGlobal flag as an argument to getAgent, which is true by default - set to false to disable the behaviour.
• Update the recommendation in the API overview that DAs only set window.fdc3 when its ready to use, to recommendation that it is set as soon as possible after a window is opened, and to queue any requests made to it until it is ready to use.
  • DAs setting the reference ASAP will speed up the aquisition of the correct DA and reduce or prevent any issues involving timeouts and failovers.

[kriswest]

Closed as decided and implemented